Pop star Sarah Harding’s ex blames their crippling ­alcohol addictions for the violent row that left them black and blue – but says: “I’ve never loved anyone more.”

Girls Aloud singer Sarah, 30, had a furious drink-fuelled bust-up with former partner Theo De Vries in a hotel room on New Year’s Eve.

Now Dutch fashion buyer Theo, 35, has revealed how they first met in rehab, and how booze ruined their relationship.

He told the Sunday Mirror the couple were so in love they talked about ­spending the rest of their lives together and even starting a family.

But after weeks helping each other stay off the booze, Sarah and Theo relapsed last month when she brought him back to the UK to live.

He said: “I’ve never loved anyone more than Sarah and it breaks my heart that alcohol ended up ­ruining everything for us.

“What started off as a love story when we were sober turned into the worst horror movie ever when we were drinking.

“Because of alcohol we went from being the best of friends to the ­worst of enemies.”

Last week Sarah claimed Theo beat her during the row on a ski holiday in ­Innsbruck, ­Austria. Theo says he was just defending himself.

Their turbulent ­relationship began in October last year when Sarah checked into a rehab clinic in Cape Town, South ­Africa. Sarah, who had just split from DJ fiancé Tom Crane, wanted help getting off ­alcohol and ­Zopiclone, a sleeping drug.

Theo, who had checked in to try to beat his alcohol ­addiction a week before, said: “I had no idea who she was. She had pink hair then and I ­remember thinking ‘wow, she’s pretty’.

“We started ­chatting and ­immediately got on well. I got butterflies every time I was around her.

“She was insecure but brave and pretty. It took me a week to fall in love with her. Amazingly she felt the same.”

They soon became the talk of the clinic, where ­relationships are forbidden, ­sneaking off on ­romantic walks on the beach and stealing ­secret kisses. As word got round they were told off by ­counsellors.

Theo, who has had a drink problem since he was 25, said: “They said two addicts together can really help each other get over their ­addiction but they can really ­destroy each other.

“At the time I didn’t listen. I wish I had now though. We were banned from speaking to each at one point so we wrote each other pages after page of love notes.

“We were like teenagers and our drink problems were being forgotten.”

When Sarah finished her treatment, she took them to Cape Town’s £500-a-night The One and Only Hotel and they spent four weeks together. Sarah, who had four number one hits with Girls Aloud, ­celebrated her 30th ­birthday with a ­barbecue at a friend’s ranch.

They started going to Alcoholics Anonymous ­meetings and church ­services, went running in the morning and kept each other off the bottle.

“We realised we were so similar,” says Theo, from Breder near Amsterdam.

“Sarah was spontaneous and impulsive. I loved that.

“We told each other we ­wanted to be together for ever.

“She even said to me that at 30 she wanted to think about having children. Maybe we were too in love with each other.” Theo even got a tattoo on his wrist with the letter “S” for Sarah in the ­middle of a heart.

“Sarah stopped me having champagne at a bar in Cape Town while I helped her too,” he said. “After her 30th ­birthday, staff at the hotel left ­champagne for her on the bed. She insisted we drink it but I ended up ­pouring it down the toilet so we wouldn’t be tempted.”

Sarah invited Theo to move into her mansion in Buckinghamshire ­– but days later at ­Selfridges in London they had their first relapse.

He said: “We argued for the first time then she told me she wanted a drink. At that point so did I so we drank three glasses of wine and a sambuca each.

“We both felt so guilty and agreed not to tell anyone – but we both knew. That first sip of wine was the moment things changed.”

After that the relapses and the rows became more frequent and Theo, who has a son aged two, said the drinking got worse when they stayed with Sarah’s mum Marie at Christmas.

“Sarah and I had a drink as she ­prepared the turkey on Christmas ­morning. By the afternoon, after more drinking, Sarah started to cry and said she wanted to spend it with her ex-boyfriend Tom. It really hurt me.”

Then they flew out to Innsbruck on a week-long skiing holiday on December 27. Theo claimed they shared half a bottle of champagne at Gatwick – then ordered another and a bottle of red wine on arrival at the four-star Hotel Schloss Matzen.

Then on December 30, Theo says he told ­Sarah the trip was “not working out” and ­wanted to go home. Sarah agreed and called her PA to organise her own flight home. The next day she left the hotel.

He said: “I hugged Sarah and told her in her ear that I will always love her.

“When she left, I deleted all trace of her off my phone ­– texts, pictures, ­everything. I thought I’d never see her again.” But Sarah’s flight was cancelled due to bad weather and she called to ask him to spend New Year’s Eve with her.

Theo says he told her he did not want to party – but Sarah came back to him anyway. She has claimed that by then Theo was drunk with three empty bottles of wine in their room and that he shouted “You’re a f****** alcoholic, you have no friends” before she threw a cup at him, which missed. But he said: “I had not had three bottles of wine. I’d taken a glass of wine to the room and not even finished it. I said ‘Sarah, I can’t believe how Tom had a relationship with you. Now I know why you broke up’.

“Sarah was furious and picked up a metal fruit bowl and threw it at me. It missed.” He then claims she launched a coffee cup at him, which hit him in the eye. “Then she punched me in the nose and made it bleed.

“She was screaming and yelling at me. Then she jumped on me,” he said. He says the singer then bit his leg and added: “She claimed I was rubbing my blood all over her face which is not true. My blood was dripping on to her face as I held her down to try to control her. I was shouting, ‘Sarah, stop it’.”

Sarah has said Theo bit her ear, smacked her head and dragged her by the hair into the bathroom ­– all of which he denies. But he admitted: “I went into the bathroom, looked in the mirror and saw the damage she’d done to my face.

"She was still screaming so I dragged her by the arm, with her standing, into the bathroom. I pulled the door shut with me on the other side and tried to jam a chair against it so I could get out of there. She was acting crazily.”

Still covered in blood, Theo got a taxi to the airport, leaving Sarah at the hotel to speak to the police, who had been called by worried guests.

Police stopped him at Innsbruck ­airport for questioning about the row, then let him fly home.

Theo, who is going back into rehab in Holland later this month, added: “The way things finished with Sarah really angered me. I don’t like the way she’s made me look like a woman beater when I’m not. I’ve never had a fight in my life and did everything in self-defence.

“But I can’t get too angry with her – she’s a beautiful person when she is sober, I just hope she can get some more help with her problems.”